Foresta 2000 trees vandalised again

Vandals have struck again at the Foresta 2000 woodland in Mellieħa, sawing off 104 trees and saplings.

Park ranger Ray Vella went to work yesterday morning to find devastation at the site, a joint project by BirdLife Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa and the Parks Department.

A lot of the spoiled trees had been planted in October 2007 to replace the 3,000 that had been destroyed in a previous systematic act of vandalism. The shrubs had been bought with €58,000 donated by the public and were also planted by members of the public.

Visibly irate, Mr Vella walked round the park, exuding frustration, even kicking the fallen trees.

"These are another three years down the drain for me," he complained, recalling the hours spent tending and watering the trees.

Asked whether he was suspecting anyone of the vandalism, Mr Vella did not reply at first but then said no one had been seen acting suspiciously so they had no reasonable grounds to suspect anyone.

A few hours after the attack was reported, Mellieħa mayor Robert Cutajar condemned it saying: "We're going to defy this by promising that come October, we're going to replace every tree chopped down with another two."

The government and the opposition also condemned the attacks.

The police said investigations were still underway.

BirdLife and DLĦ said the failure of the police to apprehend the perpetrators of these crimes seemed to be encouraging further vandalism. The country badly needed to send a message that these kinds of crime would not be tolerated.

Last year, Mr Vella, who has been working at the park for six years, was ambushed and shot at while on duty, and the year before his private farm in Mellieħa was torched. In 2004, around 100 Foresta 2000 trees were chopped down by vandals. Asked if further security measures such as cameras would be installed, Mr Vella said this might have to be considered.

The ranger called yesterday's vandalism a direct attack on the country.

"Whoever is doing this doesn't care about the Maltese, as everyone was going to benefit from this project. These trees don't have legs or hands to defend themselves: you have to be a coward and an imbecile to do this."